Feeding mechanism for bottle-capping machines.



PATENTED NOV. 27, 1906.

APPLICATION FILED APB.19. 1906.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM HOGGARD, OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA.

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR BOTTLE OAPPING MACHl NES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 27, 1906.

Application m i n 19, 1906. an a. 512,659.

to provide simple and effective means to be employed in connection with any of the-ordi-' nary forms of crownin or ca ping machines. which will automaticafiy feed the caps, thus avoiding the necessity of placing them in po-. sition by hand, as is at present the usual practice, further objects being to utilize the ordinary movement of the lever operating the capping mechanism to accomp 'sh this feeding, further objects still being to render the device easily applicable to any of the ordinary forms of crowning or capping machines, whereby it will not be necessary to reconstruct the machine to apply my attachment thereto; and it consists essentially, of a suitable feeding-tube in which the caps. are contained, a reciprocatinislide operating below the bottom of said tu e and which works in a slot extending through the. throat of the capping mechanism and which is adapted to move a cap placed before it into the required position in the capping mechanism, means for normally preventing the caps from feeding, and means operated by the slide for releasing said means and allowing one cap to drop into position in front of the slide at each reciprocation thereof, the various parts of the device being constructed and arranged in detail as hereinafter more particularly described.

Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of the capping mechanism of a bottling-machine having my attachmentapplied thereto. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional detail of the throatcapping mechanism. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 2 2, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 3 3, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 4 4, Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view through the 09. -containing reservoir. Fig. 7 isa vertica section through the same.

In the drawings, lik letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

In bottle-capping machines of the type to which this invention refers it has usually machine y hand-that is,when the bottle is in a certain position the operation of the ma: chine isstop ed while a cap is inserted into been the ractice to have the caps fed to the i '66, the throat o the machine by hand) In m I invention I aim to replace this hand method,

offeeding by means automatically of erated by .the operation of other parts of t eima chine. I 1

My invention may be a pied to any t e of machine, and while, I? have herein {Be-i scribed it as applied to one common form ,of

capping-machlne, yet it can without difii. cu

ty be adapted for use inany machine of the same class.

Referring to the drawin s, A re resents the upper movable part 0 a bott in -malever F, and when lowered over the neck of the bottle, a capping mechanism, located Within the head G, will operate to secure a cap. to the top of the bottle. Within the head G is located the removable throat H, the inside surface. of,which, w hen the cap is pressed upwardly on top of the bottle, com: presses the sides of the ca s to cause them to grip the flange on the neo of the bottle. usual, this throat is held in position on top of an annular rubber ring a by means'of a ring I), having a screw threade den agementwith' Within t e throat and an outer casing c. protruding slightly from the inner side there} ofnear the bottom are a plurality of springheld dogs (1, e, and f, which are "adapted to hold the cap in position prior to capping; I

Extending into the throat is the verticallymovable slide I, which resses on the cap on its upward movementt ough the throat. A

All the above featuresare old and well known in the machines now in usefor cap; ping bottles, and in the o erationof these machines the attendant p aces the stopper within thethroat H and resting on the dogs (1, e, and f prior to operating the cappinglever F. On the upward movement of the bottle through the throat the cap is lifted on the top thereof and being forced upwardly is crimped into position around the flange on the top of the bottle by means of the inclined inner surface of the throat.

The .old device having now been .made clear, I will describe. the improvements I havedevised for automatically supplying the caps to the bottles as they are required. Secured to the head G and laterally extendlng therefrom is a casing J, within which a slide K reciprocates. Opposite this casinglopenings g and h are prov ded through the ead G and through the throat H, whereby the slide may in its mnermost position extend throu h these. The front portion '5 of the slide which is ada ted to extend through the openings g and is somewhat smal er than the rest of the slide, and at the juncture of the two a acking-ring 7' extends around the same. his is to insure that when the slide is in its innermost position, as shown in Fig. 2, no li uid may leak out through the openings. he slide K is reciprocated by means of links L, connected to pins l thereon, the

opposite ends of the said links being connected 'to the extremities of arms m, integral with the bell-crank lever F. By this means the slot is reciprocated whenever the crank is-ope1ated, and. that is once-to pap each bottle.

I will now; roceed to describe the automatic means provide to drop a cap in front of the slide at each reciprocation thereof, whereby the slide will pushthe cap into position in the throat. M is a feeding-tube made of slightly larger diameter than the caps Z and the bottom of which extends throu h the top of the'casing J. The upper end of this tube leads to a circular cap-reservoir N, within which area plurality of capcontaining tubes n, which are so placed around the interior of the reservoir that they will be successively brought in ahnement with the feeding-tube M. This alinement may be insured by the employment of dowelpins 0, adapted to extend through holes pro-' vided in flanges and g on the feedi -tube and reservoir. en one of the tu es is emptied, another ma be moved into place, an thus a large num er of ca s may be conveniently stored in a sm'a space. The downward movement of the cap in the tubes 7 is normally prevented by-means of two dogs 0 and .P on opposite sides of the casing and extending therethrough and artially across the cap-containing tube. .T ese dogs may be of any desired form that I consider preferable, com rising flat springs 1', secured at one end to t e casing and having at their 0pposite endsprojecting plates 8, each formed integral with the sprin' and normal thereto andwhich are adapted to normally extend I partially, across the 'ca ping-tube, as indicated in dotted lines in ig. 3. To move the dogs 0 and P out of position to allow a cap to drop in front of the slide at 'each reciprocation thereof, I provide .pivoted levers t and erated ing said dog and, allowing one cap to e fed at u, the outer ends of which abut the flat'surface of the springs r and the inner ends of which are ada te to be engaged by a tap at 12 secured to t e top of the slide. To ena le t s tappet to operate,.a slot 6is provided in the top of the casing. By this means when the slide is in its innermost position the dogs 0 and P will be rem ved from across the cape feeding tube and a cap will drop down and rest on top of the slide, the height of the plates 0 above the slide bein such that only one cap may rest between t e slideand the plates. When the slide is drawnback to itsoutermost position, the cap which has been freed by the outward movement of the do s and has been drop ed on top of the slide w1 now drop before 1; e front of the slide, and when the slide a ain moves inwardly this ca will be pushed t ough the openings 9 and into the capping-throat and will be held on the dogs e, dyand f therein. The cap has thus been moved by automatic means into the same position as in the ordinary form of machines it would be placed by hand. As the inner end i of the slide 1s somewhat smaller than the other portions, a s ace will be left below this when the slide is w1thdrawn to its outermost position, and to preventthe cap becoming caught in this space I provide a, small dog 11) inthe front of the slide,wed geshaped, as shown, which is loosely held in a similarly-sha ed recess a: in the slide, and

when the sli e is in its outermost position is adapted to drop down and slide on the bottom of the casing.

exceedingly cheap and simple form of machine, which'may be attached to any of the ordinary forms of ca ping-machine and which will automatically eed a cap into the throat of the machine at each operationthereof.

While I have described with great particu larity of detail one specific form of In invention, yet certain changes may be Ina cm the construction thereof within the scope of the appended claims. a

What I claim as my invention is 1. In a device of the class described in 'om.-. bination a vertically-extending feeding-tube, a feeding-slide reciprocating below the bottom thereof, a spring-held dog normally pre IIO ventingbthe caps from feeding and meansop- I y the slide for intermittentl release each reciprocation of the slide as and vfor the purpose s ecified.

2. In a evice of the class described binati on a vertically-extending fee'dingrt'ube,

ever as and for the purpose specified. 3. In a device of the class described the when operated torelease said dog and a ta I00 It will thus be seen that I have devised an combination with the vertically-extending feeding-tube of a cap-reservoir comprising a plurality of tubes and means for successively ringing the same into alinement with the 5 feeding-tube as and for the purpose s ecified.

4. In a device of the class describe in combination a feeding-tube, a feeding-slide reciprocating below the bottom thereof, a spring-held dog normally preventing the ca s from feeding, means operated by said slide for intermittently releasing said dog and allowing one cap to be fed at each reciprocation thereof, a cap-containing reservoir comprising a plurality of tubes and means for successively bringing said tubes in alinement with the feeding-tube as and for the purpose specified.

5. In a feeding mechanism for bottle-ca ping machines the combination with t e throat having a assage way extending through the side t ereof of a reciprocating slide adapted to feed a cap therethrough at each reciprocatio n thereof and means for roducing a water-tight joint between the s ide and the passage-way in the throat when the slide is in its innermost position as and for the purpose specified.

6. In a feeding mechanism for bottle-capping machines the combination with the throat having a passage-way through the side thereof of a casing laterally extending from around said passage-way, a reciprocating throat and head having a passage way through the side thereof, of a casing, arec1proeating feeding-slide having a reduced inner end adapted to extend through said passageway, means for dropping a cap in front of said slide at each reciprocation thereof and a pack ing-ring extending around the slide at the juncture between the reduced and the large portion thereof and adapted when the slide is in its innermost position to prevent the leakage of liquid through the passage-way as and for the purpose specified.

Signed at the city of Ottawa, in the Province of Ontario, this 16th day of April, 1906.

WILLIAM HOGGARD.

Witnesses:

L. W. RARITON, RUssEL S. SMART. 

